


Admitting the Obvious

by Kalorii



Series: SorMik Seraphic Union [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Headcanon, Kissing, M/M, Post-Canon, Seraph Sorey (Tales of Zestiria), Sex Talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26117920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalorii/pseuds/Kalorii
Summary: Sorey returns after merging with Maotelus, waking up to realize he's a seraph and has been gone for nearly four-hundred years. Reuniting with his beloved childhood friend sends thoughts spinning in the former Shepherd's mind. With eternity spreading out before him, Sorey knows there's only one he wants to spend it with.
Relationships: Mikleo/Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)
Series: SorMik Seraphic Union [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010010
Comments: 13
Kudos: 87





	1. The Return

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise. If you're here after following me for FF7 stuff, I sincerely apologize. I intended to write more FF7 and even write stuff for FF15 but then Zestiria grabbed a hold of me and won't let go. Ideas might still be around for FF7 and FF15 but I just had to write something for Sorey and Mikleo.
> 
> For those unfamiliar with me, hi. I write meandering fics with a lot of internal thoughts and sometimes odd twists. I also like to write things that are so disgustingly domestic that it could bore you to death. Conflict isn't always my strong point. I also love inserting a lot of headcanons and other things but I feel like that's fairly standard for any fanfic written.
> 
> I enjoyed writing this and I hope you, the reader, enjoy reading it. Thank you for your time!

There had been no pain or much of anything when Sorey had merged with Maotelus. For something so large, the young Shepherd had only felt at ease. He’d made the right decision, even if it would cost him countless years of his life.

Time lost all meaning with the Lord who eventually regained consciousness enough to speak with him. At first, the voice had been so loud to Sorey’s ears since he’d likely not heard anything other than the calm noise around him for who knew how long. Once he got used to it, oh, the stories the elder seraphim had to tell! It was at that moment Sorey had known that his answer was the right one. Maotelus was purified – or as much as he could be.

There was no way to tell when Sorey had been released. So much information had been given to him in what felt like such a small timeframe. What he knew was that his human body would have given out long ago and it was Maotelus who saved him from that fate. There was, of course, only one way that could happen.

Since the sun had set and risen twice, Sorey was certain that he’d spent at least two days resting in Camlann. Maotelus had released him to return to his place in the earth where he would rest further.

Merging with such a powerful seraph had a cost he hadn’t expected. He’d been dodging around the truth that he’d been turned into a seraph himself. It would have been easier if he’d been turned into a single-element seraph like all the others. However, it seemed one didn’t spend countless years merged with a Lord and not take on some of their qualities.

Once he’d managed to get his bearings, Sorey had decided to try and figure out how much the world had changed in his absence. His answer had come almost immediately as Elysia was more bustling than ever. There were seraphs _and_ humans coexisting.

Some of the seraphim he remembered came to greet him with happy smiles that made his heart soar. When things calmed, they told him he’d been gone for nigh four-hundred years. As the group of seraphs had never left the mountain, they had barely any information on the world below. The humans living there were ones with high resonance who had journeyed to Elysia in search of a more peaceful life which didn’t exactly soothe Sorey’s worries.

It’d taken some time before he managed to get even a remote hint about where his beloved friend had gone. Apparently, Mikleo had decided to start adventuring before him. Okay, he had to concede that nearly four-hundred years was a long time to wait, but still!

“You’re so lucky I got to you!” Sorey said, his green eyes glimmering with worry. “What were you going to do if you fell down there?”

Much to his ire, Mikleo just shook his head, the smile he had on his face since being pulled up to safety still there. “I-I have no idea,” he finally stammered out, shaking his head again.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sorey shifted on his feet and dusted off his clothes. “That wasn’t exactly how I wanted to tell you I was back. When you touched that thing, I was going to cover your eyes and make you guess.”

Sorey yelped in shock as Mikleo leapt forward, embracing the former Shepherd. The two fell backwards, making Sorey laugh softly as he returned the embrace. “Hey, I missed you, too.”

As if he finally realized what he was doing, Mikleo pulled up to a kneeling position, sitting back on his heels. It was then that Sorey got a good look at him. He’d never pictured the other seraph with long hair, but it looked good on him. All-in-all, Mikleo simply _looked_ older and more experienced than before. Sorey could only imagine how adept he’d gotten and how many ruins he’d already explored – all without him, mind you.

Mikleo seemed embarrassed as Sorey looked at him, a light laugh leaving the seraph’s throat. “You haven’t changed all that much. You’re even wearing the same clothes from all those centuries ago.” Starting slightly, Mikleo leaned forward, suddenly appearing irritated. “You kept m— _us_ waiting for nearly four-hundred years, you jerk!”

Leaning back with a soft noise, Sorey reached up to rub the back of his neck. “And _you_ started exploring ruins without me! I think we’re even.”

Clenching a hand into a fist, Mikleo glared mutinously at his friend before stopping. A smile slowly spread across the seraph’s face and a laugh rose up inside of him. Obvious tears went down Mikleo’s cheeks as he sat back on his heels once more. “It’s really you.”

Tipping his head to one side, Sorey grinned ever so slightly. “You just hugged me. I don’t remember being able to hug illusions.”

“No, it’s just…” Mikleo trailed off as if he’d lost all the words he wanted to speak. “Never mind. I’m so glad you’re back.”

After so long, it wasn’t as easy as one would think to speak to even the oldest friend. The two settled on talking about the ruins they were in as they left, something that felt comfortable. Sorey was positive curiosity was eating at the water seraph but he wanted to wait until their reunion before getting into the details.

Mikleo had made a temporary camp not far from the ruins that the two rested at. It was hard for Sorey to not ask too many questions himself. However, his old friend could only shake his head when asked about Glenwood.

“I’ve been northward for so long, I don’t know what’s happening there anymore,” Mikleo admitted with a light shrug. He reached up to tug lightly at a lock of hair before he turned amethyst eyes up to Sorey. “When did you come back? You can tell me that much, can’t you?”

Humming softly, Sorey thought about it as his eyes turned to the star-filled sky. “A little over two weeks ago, I think. I had to leave Camlann first then I went to Elysia.” He brightened with a smile, turning his gaze back to Mikleo. “There are _humans_ there! They all have such high resonance, it’s amazing. Elysia actually looks like a real village now.”

A smile touched Mikleo’s lips and he nodded. “That started happening at least a hundred years ago now,” he said. It was as if the other seraph relaxed as they finally eased into sharing information about the past. “More and more humans are being born that have resonance of different ranges. Your dream of humans and seraphs living together is a reality around the world.”

So, his thought of merging with Maotelus influencing humans was right. It was all worth it in the end, even if he would never see his human friends again. Idly, he wondered if Mikleo had caught on that Sorey wasn’t human any longer already. There was no way that fact could be missed.

“Mikleo, would you come with me to find Lailah, Edna, and Zaveid? We have a lot to talk about.”

“What, you think that I’m going to let you out of my sight for longer than necessary?” Mikleo said, arching a brow. “I want to know everything you can tell me but I know you won’t say anything until we see them again. If you tell me before Edna, we’ll never hear the end of it.”

Sorey chuckled and nodded lightly in agreement. “Heh, yeah, you’re right. Have you been talking with them over the years?”

A heavy sigh met his ears and the water seraph shrugged once. “Lailah mostly. Edna’s as annoying as ever and it’s hard to keep Zaveid in one place for too long. When we meet, it’s usually one at a time.”

That made Sorey frown slightly until he shook his head. Of course, it made sense that they wouldn’t all stick together for centuries like that. Instead, he looked up to Mikleo and really took in the way his friend looked. “You grew your hair out. It looks good on you.”

There was momentary confusion before Mikleo reached up with one hand to touch his hair. “O-oh, thanks. I thought it was time for a change, that’s all.”

Was Mikleo actually embarrassed? Between the hugging and now the sheepish behaviour, Sorey felt like he was missing something. He wasn’t about to try and squeeze it out of his friend by force, however. It was still way too soon to start thinking they could settle back into the way things were so long ago. Time changed everything and it didn’t matter that Sorey felt like he’d only left Mikleo just yesterday. Simply seeing the changes in his friend made it obvious that he could at least rely on their friendship if nothing else.

Inwardly, Sorey chastised himself for even thinking about it.

“I know it’s unfair, but tell me what you’ve been up to,” Sorey said, deciding he wanted to know sooner rather than later. Curse his foolish heart that had hesitated for so long. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll answer at least a couple of questions if I can.”

“That’s the most selfish request I’ve ever heard from you, Sorey,” Mikleo teased, giving him an easy grin and a sly look. “Maybe I was wrong and you _have_ changed. You’re asking for nearly four-hundred years of my life in exchange for only two questions?”

It was incredibly selfish and for all the wrong reasons. Sorey made a noise and he reached up to run a hand through his hair. “You’re right, it is. Even when we do catch up, I can’t tell you everything.” He pressed his lips together slightly before shrugging. No sense in holding back now. “It’s part of my vow.”

Eyes widening, Mikleo leaned forward until he was on his hands and knees. “You _are_ a seraph! I thought it was just because of your time with Maotelus, but he turned you into one, didn’t he?”

Nodding once, the former Shepherd grimaced a bit. “He said my human body would’ve given out if he didn’t. Who knew a human couldn’t sleep as a human for a few centuries?” Sorey said, laughing lightly. “I’m just glad he did it when I was still young.”

That was, of course, relatively speaking. Sleeping had indeed slowed down his aging process so it was much closer to when Maotelus was somewhat purified than when Sorey had merged with him. Even trying to sort out how long it was in between made Sorey’s head hurt. It was better to let it flow in his mind rather than attempting to think of how to explain something he vowed he couldn’t.

“Edna’s going to be disappointed she doesn’t get to see you as an old man.” The water seraph’s voice brought Sorey out of his thoughts, making him look over. “I’m going to waste both of my questions but I want to know what element you are.”

“Uh, all of them.” Before Mikleo could call him a liar, Sorey quickly conjured up what he’d managed to gain control over. Pulling up a bit of earth which in turn had some moisture drip from it until a small flame appeared to be quickly extinguished. He finished by making a small breeze flow in Mikleo’s direction, grinning despite his worries as the snowy hair bounced lightly in response. “Not much, but it looks like I’ll need all of you to give me a hand.”

For the first time, Mikleo was speechless. That was, until his mind clearly caught up with him and his eyes lit up. “That’s remarkable! Seraphs that can control more than one element are rare, but to have all four is the stuff of legends,” he said, a familiar eagerness on his face. “The rarest seraph are ones like Gramps was but you’re amazing, Sorey.”

Unable to help himself, Sorey flicked some water at Mikleo’s face with a chuckle. “Not yet, I’m not. There’s only so much I can do right now.” He saw his friend’s mild disappointment and Sorey shook his head. “But with you helping me, I know I’ll be able to be good with water in no time.”

“Aren’t you presumptuous?” Mikleo muttered, a playful grin on his face. “If you’re expecting me to give you all my tricks without making you work for them, you’re wrong.”

“Well, of course I expect you to make me work for it. I said I’d be ‘good’, not ‘the best’. You’re probably the best water seraphim anyone knows by now,” Sorey said, not trying to hide the obvious flattery.

It seemed Mikleo was onto him but the seraph still visibly preened at the praise. Then he stopped, smiling lopsidedly. “I’m sorry, I deflected to asking those questions instead of answering yours. But,” he began, finally settling back down, “there’s not much to tell. I only recently got back into ruin hunting in the hope I’d have good places to bring you.”

Vague and entirely unhelpful, but Sorey merely nodded as he stamped down the feelings that were clogging his mind. “What were you doing before, then? I thought you’d stay in Elysia at least but everyone said you hadn’t been there in a long time.”

“Why would I stay there? I visit once in a while but it’s hard to stay for too long without you or Gramps there,” Mikleo said, shrugging a shoulder. “I care for everyone else so I visit when I can. Elysia doesn’t feel like home any more.”

“Now you’ll be gone even longer since you’ve got some ruins to show me.” Sorey laughed softly as his shoulder was tapped by Mikleo’s fist. “ _After_ we’ve seen everyone else, of course! I’ll probably be a liability until I can figure out my seraphic powers. I was lucky I could do what I did for you without making a mess of it.”

This time, there was understanding in the water seraph’s gaze and he nodded. “It shouldn’t take long for you to figure it all out. We all worked together once so we know we can get along.” Mikleo paused, making a face. “For the most part, anyway.”

Sorey laughed gently at the memories of their small squabbles and adventures. Even if they sometimes argued, it was never serious enough to cause serious friction. All of them had known when to get along if the situation called for it. Those had been the memories he’d held onto the most, even if he’d sometimes been annoyed by their bickering.

A loud yawn met Sorey’s ears and he saw Mikleo stretching. “I only have one sleeping bag. You can have it if you want it.”

“Where are you going to sleep, then? It’s your sleeping bag, I’ll take this nice spot I’ve been sitting in,” Sorey insisted, leaning against the tree at his back. “It’s still more comfortable than sleeping on a rock.”

Mikleo chuckled and reluctantly acquiesced. As he settled in, he looked up to Sorey. “It’s really great to have you back, Sorey. Don’t disappear on me in the morning or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Even though he’d gotten very few answers as to what his friend had been up to in his absence, Sorey was glad to be at his side again. “Good night, Mikleo. I promise I won’t disappear.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Good night, Sorey,” Mikleo muttered before he fell fast asleep.

Sleep was harder for Sorey to find but he sat quietly looking up at the stars. His mind was still trying to separate his current self from his past human form. Where he’d once seen seraphim as incredibly similar to humans, he knew that wasn’t right at all. Their similarities were mostly for human benefit as they didn’t really need to sleep or even to eat, they simply took pleasure in doing so. It was a wild, new perspective that he was getting and it was exciting to some extent.

Eventually, with Mikleo’s even breaths and the crackling of the fire, Sorey closed his eyes. There was an eternity spread before him that he could wait another day to explore. At least this time he’d have a good friend at his side as he did.


	2. The Gang's All Here

Any previous worries about whether they could pick up where they left off were gone as Sorey and Mikleo began making their way to Ladylake. Lailah was always the easiest to find as she continued to reside where she’d once slept with the sword of the Shepherd. So long as she hadn’t become a Prime Lord again, Mikleo was certain she would be there.

Where the water seraph had been reluctant to give much information out the first night, he was a fountain of it on their journey. Though he had been out of touch with much of Glenwood for a few decades, humans were slow to change and, even then, much of the information he had was reality now.

Sorey heard of how Rose had become a Shepherd herself. She’d had a long life and, as Mikleo was eager to tell him, had become the next Storyteller. Unfortunately, this also meant she was usually wandering much like Mayvin had before her. Both of them had a decent laugh over the fact that now Rose had become an even bigger nerd than the two of them combined.

Alisha surprised him as he was told that she’d married Sergei and had children of her own as well. Once more, the resonance she possessed carried down, though stronger than even Alisha had ever had herself. Her lower rank in royal hierarchy meant her children would never sit the throne, but they were still regarded highly in the kingdom.

Humans in general began to show higher levels of resonance almost a century after Sorey had merged with Maotelus. As one could expect, parents giving birth to children who had “invisible friends” thought nothing of it for a while. It wasn’t until that generation grew that the truth was made apparent to both humans and seraphim. What had once been odd and frightening had become curiosity on both sides. It wasn’t paradise and some humans still didn’t get along with seraphs and vice versa. Relations were always a work in progress and likely would be for the foreseeable future.

It was what Sorey needed to hear and he was glad for it, though it didn’t answer anything about what Mikleo had been doing for four centuries. Why his friend was hesitant to speak about it, Sorey had no idea, but he wasn’t going to push the issue.

Once they arrived in familiar territory, Sorey felt a little more at ease. At least he did until they reached Ladylake proper. “ _Wow_ ,” was all that he could whisper as they passed through the busy streets.

Seraph merchants mingled with human merchants, there were even mixed couples. It was hard to worry about anything as Sorey walked through the city that had once been drowning in malevolence. Some heads turned his way, amused laughs following his behaviour. He didn’t care that he looked like a gawping tourist, like he’d just come down from Elysia and was experiencing the world all over again.

“Mikboy!”

The two turned as they heard a familiar voice, a seraph who was still completely shirtless with long, white hair coming towards them. “Zaveid? What are you doing here?” Mikleo asked incredulously.

“Could ask you the same thing. I’m here to see Lailah who’s been doing a wonderful job of training me how to wield purifying powers,” Zaveid said, practically crowing his pride. He paused as he finally saw Sorey, eyes going wide. “Well I’ll be damned. _Sorey_? When the hell did you get back into town?”

“A few weeks ago,” Sorey said, trying not to move as Zaveid circled him. He let out a noise as he was hugged with strong arms, laughing and returning the embrace. “It’s good to see you again.”

Snorting, Zaveid set Sorey down and reached up to ruffle his hair. “Four-hundred years and that’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?” he teased, grinning widely. “Damn, look at you, all seraphic now. That your reward from Maotelus for saving him and the rest of the world?”

Lifting a shoulder, Sorey chuckled. “Not really, just a necessity. It might surprise you to know that humans don’t live for as long as I have.”

“Oh ho! Did he give you a sense of humour while he was at it? Praise be to our man Maotelus!” Zaveid paused before grinning over to Mikleo. “Look at you, too! You’re looking good, Mickey. Haven’t seen you in forever, either. You’re as elusive as I am.”

Mikleo was treated to a hug as well that he fought against. The water seraph growled lowly as his hair was ruffled, reaching up to straighten it as he fixed Zaveid with an irritated glare. “Must you? I’m not a child,” he grumped. Huffing softly, he gave the wind seraph a begrudging smile. “I’ve been busy exploring ruins lately.”

“On your own? I thought you were waiting for Sorey to come back.” Zaveid shrugged idly before he raised a hand. “Lailah! Get your beautiful self over here, we’ve got someone you’ve been missing!”

Sorey hadn’t expected everything to happen so quickly and it looked like Mikleo hadn’t, either. However, both of them brightened as the fire seraphim turned at Zaveid’s call. It took her a moment before she spotted Sorey and he was nearly knocked off his feet with another hug which sent him spinning. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d been hugged this much by anyone.

“Oh, Sorey! I’ve missed you so much,” Lailah said, putting her hands on Sorey’s cheeks. She was beaming with something like pride as she did. “Maotelus turned you into a seraph as well. I must admit, I’m having some trouble pinpointing what element you are.”

“Give him some breathing room and maybe he could tell you.” Sliding out from behind Lailah, Edna appeared with her umbrella on her shoulder and opened. She closed it and then came over to wrap her arms around Sorey’s waist. “Idiot. You sure know how to keep a girl waiting.”

Suddenly, Zaveid’s arms were around him and he saw Mikleo pulled in closer as well. Sorey could only laugh as he was group hugged by the seraphim who had once been bound to him. It truly felt like he’d come home, even if the whole world had changed around them. There were familiar faces that he could take comfort in.

As one could expect, there were complaints from Edna and Mikleo over the forced hug, but Sorey could tell it wasn’t such a big deal. They complained at Zaveid simply because that was what they tended to do. Again, it was something familiar, as was Lailah’s calling for peace. One thing they could all agree on was to go somewhere quiet that they could chat with one another.

They settled on a room at the inn and ordered food while they were at it. After days of sleeping on the ground, Sorey was glad to feel something soft at his back. He spent a moment while everyone else was shuffling to find a place to sit just enjoying the mattress. Even this was something familiar, the memories of when he’d first made his pact with Lailah hovering in the back of his mind.

“Three-hundred-eighty-seven years, four months, one week, three days. That’s how long you’ve been gone,” Edna said into the silence that had fallen between them all. “I know because I counted.”

So, not exactly four centuries but definitely close enough. “That was how long it took to purify Maotelus, more or less.” Everyone but Mikleo was looking at him expectantly and Sorey finally shook his head. “I can’t give you details. I made a vow not to tell anyone what I experienced with Maotelus.”

Edna hummed softly. “Convenient.”

“We just got him back and you’re trying to unravel him already? Pace yourself, Edna,” Zaveid muttered, putting an elbow up on the table he was sitting at. “Fair enough, Sorey. What _can_ you tell us, then?”

“Yes, what element are you? I sense fire capabilities within you, am I wrong?” Lailah said, putting her hands together eagerly.

Zaveid arched a brow. “Really? Choirboy is definitely a wind seraph; I can tell one at fifty paces.”

A yelp from the wind seraph told everyone that Edna had poked him with her parasol. “Idiot. He’s an earth seraph because _I_ can tell an earth user a mile away.”

Mikleo laughed softly, unable to contain himself any longer apparently. Amethyst-coloured eyes turned to Sorey, a wry grin telling his friend how amused he truly was at the argument. “Go ahead, Sorey. If you’re wanting me to play along with their little guessing game, I’d be a cheater.”

“Of course, you told Mikleo first.” Enda gave the water seraph a jealous glare.

“The truth is, you’re all right. I can use all four elements but I’m not very good at any of them right now,” Sorey said, shrugging apologetically. “I’d rather not burn, flood, entomb, or blow the inn away.”

“Maotelus is a real giving kind of guy, isn’t he? Makes you a seraph _and_ gives you every element to go along with it. The least he could’ve done was made you adept at them.” Zaveid chuckled lightly, leaning back as their food was brought in. He winked at the maid who giggled before she left. “Bet that you didn’t even ask.”

Closing his eyes as he savoured the rich stew, Sorey shook his head. “I can tell you it wasn’t my choice, that’s all.” He looked to each of his friends hopefully. “You can tell me if you’re busy but I’d really like it if you could help me learn.”

There was nothing but eager agreement from the trio of seraphs with Mikleo being the only one who merely nodded. It was obvious there were going to be mild squabbles over who took charge first but Sorey let them argue amongst each other. It was a small blessing that they no longer got to do such things in his head. Sorey was sure he’d lose his mind if that were the case.

Once that settled, they all fell into amicable chatting about what they’d been up to for the past few centuries. Both Edna and Zaveid were trying to learn purifying from Lailah so they could make pacts with Shepherds. There were so many more these days, even if there wasn’t anywhere near as much malevolence in the world. It didn’t mean that there wasn’t any and hellions still had a presence in some areas.

The biggest change was that they were all socializing so much more with humans. Edna’s opinion had softened somewhat even if she hadn’t. Sorey didn’t envy anyone who had her as a Prime Lord. The earth seraph would be an exacting master and practically demand perfection from anyone she chose. On the other hand, Edna would likely not choose anyone who wouldn’t be able to stand up to her.

Both Mikleo and Sorey couldn’t wrap their minds around Zaveid’s decision to train as a Prime Lord. On the surface, it seemed like a pathetic play to get close to a woman. Sorey wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt considering his previous desire to eliminate hellions on his own. There was always so much more to Zaveid than he ever let on and he wondered if Edna and Mikleo thought about it. Or, maybe he was just too trusting.

Lailah, Edna, and Zaveid were full of stories that they told late into the night. It didn’t matter to any of them that he’d been gone for so long and couldn’t speak of it. The only one still not willing to share his stories was Mikleo. The others likely assumed they’d already spoke of what the water seraph had done for so long.

Eventually, with the sun completely down and night settling in, the trio decided to leave until the next day. There were only two beds in the rented room and both Sorey and Mikleo had made it clear they hadn’t slept in anything comfortable for some time. Sorey himself was really looking forward to having something soft to sink into.

He shrugged out of the Shepherd’s cloak and draped it over a chair before sitting on it to start taking off his boots. “Mikleo, you still haven’t told me what you’ve been up to. You said you only started going into ruins again recently, so what were you doing before?” he asked, hoping his friend would stop shying away from the conversation.

Unfortunately, Mikleo shook his head, his white locks bouncing as he did. “I was trying to improve myself in my seraphic artes. It’s not as exciting as everyone else’s stories.” If anything, he seemed almost embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Sorey.”

“Why are you holding back on me?” Sorey asked, unable to hide his worry any longer. “I know I can’t tell you everything but I’ll tell you as much as I’m allowed.”

Letting out a noise of irritation, Mikleo let his hair down from its tie. “Dammit, Sorey. It’s not because you can’t tell me anything. I understand and the last thing I want is for you to break your vow just for me.” He sighed heavily, dropping his hands into his lap. Setting aside the hair tie, he began to remove his shoes. “Do you really want to hear how I spent a hundred years feeling completely aimless? Or the next few decades trying to find myself?”

Finally. Sorey moved to sit down on the bed beside Mikleo. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, Mikleo. You know I would have been if I’d been able to.”

Troubled eyes peered up to Sorey before softening slightly. “I shouldn’t blame you for doing what was right. Losing Gramps and then not having you there with me was twice the pain,” he murmured, tilting his head down to let his hair fall around his face. “No one else knows me like you do so it took a lot of time for me to move on.”

Sorey felt his heart tighten which he ignored. When had he started to realize that what he felt for Mikleo was more than just friendship? Long before they’d separated, that was for sure. He’d danced around the topic, unable to bring it up to him. What if he was rejected and made things awkward between them? The last thing Sorey wanted was to ruin the friendship. Better to sit by Mikleo’s side than to ruin the closeness that they had. A moment like this made it that much more difficult, really.

What if “moving on” meant that Mikleo had found comfort with someone else? He couldn’t fault the water seraph for it. It was, after all, his fault that he’d been unable to admit what was in his heart.

One hand almost moved up to brush the hair out of Mikleo’s face. Sorey halted and turned the hand into a loose fist as he lifted it up to his chest. “I’ll try to make it up to you somehow.” He offered a soft smile as his friend looked up at him. “I might be nearly four-hundred years late but now we’ve got all the time in the world.”

Pausing for a brief moment, Mikleo eventually chuckled gently. “I keep forgetting you’re a seraph now. I’m so used to you being a human and seeing you as one that I didn’t question it at first.” The other seraph seemed to relax and nodded lightly. “We’ll start training tomorrow. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because we grew up together.”

Something had definitely perked the other up and Sorey was glad for that. He gave Mikleo his usual grin of confidence. “Hey, I don’t expect you to go easy on me. I sure didn’t when we were growing up and learning how to use our weapons.”

“I knew it!” Mikleo reached out and lightly punched Sorey’s arm. “Now I’m not so sorry for all those times I hit you so hard with my staff.”

Returning the light punch, Sorey laughed softly. “Let’s just try not to drown each other.”

“No promises.”


	3. Human to Seraph Conversion Issues

“Hold it!”

Sorey jumped and lost his focus, causing the arte he had been working on to fall apart. He was left spluttering yet again as the water drenched him. Seraphic artes were much harder to pull off than the artes he used as a human. For the seraphs, it was second nature but a human reborn as a seraph had to learn from scratch.

Reaching up to wipe the water from his face and slick back his hair, he looked to Mikleo who had his arms folded across his chest. “Sorry,” Sorey muttered.

“I’m purposely trying to distract you and you’re allowing it every time.” Mikleo sighed, unfolding his arms to rest idly on his staff. “I don’t think a sword is a good weapon for you any longer. Finding the right fit is going to be difficult.”

To say that Mikleo had changed and grown was putting it lightly. It wasn’t that he’d changed so much Sorey didn’t recognize him any longer but he was different. So much more confident and knowledgeable, yet also patient and understanding. The latter likely was only because of Sorey being who he was, he was sure.

“All seraphs use something that plays off their elements. As you have all four, it only makes sense that finding what will enhance your power rather than hindering it would be hard,” Edna said, shaking off her parasol. “The sword could be the right answer so long as we find someone to make one tailored for you.”

Lailah made a soft noise of agreement, smiling softly. “There are plenty of weaponsmiths that specialize in making seraphic weapons now. It won’t take long to find one who can help us.”

Though Zaveid did nothing but agree, Sorey was surprised at how well all four seraphs were getting along. It seemed that he was always going to be the common thread between them. However, he was more surprised considering they certainly weren’t in this much harmony when he was a Shepherd. More evidence that it wasn’t just Mikleo who had grown and changed.

“How could a sword be the right fit?” Mikleo asked, twirling his staff before perching it on his shoulder.

“Think about it, Mickster. You take minerals from the earth, use the fire to heat and temper them, air and water to quench the heat. It’s a balance,” Zaveid said. He pointed at the sheathed weapon still at Sorey’s hip. “Problem is, that one’s just a ceremonial deal. You need the real thing with proper steel before you’ll have what you need.”

Edna looked to the wind seraph. “That was surprisingly informative and you avoided putting in unnecessary commentary. I am begrudgingly impressed.”

Grinning widely, Zaveid put a hand on his waist. “Aw, you actually miss my commentary? I’m touched.”

“Be that as it may, I’ve only ever carried an ornamental sword and, at first, it was because I needed to hunt. Is it really all that important to have something sharp enough to hurt someone?” Sorey asked, interrupting the impending fight.

“You wouldn’t be hurting anyone, Sorey. I doubt you would ever raise a true sword against a human and this world is much different than the one you grew up in,” Lailah said, coming over to put a hand upon Sorey’s shoulder. “For a seraph of your power, it would be important to find something to balance those elements.”

Turning to Sorey, Edna tilted her head gently. “Your style is best suited to swords. To change now would make it that much more difficult to learn seraphic artes. Zaveid isn’t saying to make a deadly weapon.”

Clearly taken aback by the unexpected support, Zaveid shrugged a shoulder. “Blunt the damn thing for all I care, just make sure it’s out of steel. All you’ll ever use it for is making flashy effects anyway,” he said. “Until you get a hold of your elements, that is. Once you do that, you’ll be one of the most versatile seraphs out there.”

“You could be someone’s Prime Lord without having Sub Lords,” Mikleo said, a touch of awe in his voice.

Holding up his hands, Sorey let out a nervous laugh. “Whoa, I can barely hold down seraphic artes and I have no idea how to purify on my own. One step at a time.” It all felt so overwhelming and was almost more pressure than being the Shepherd. “We can look for a swordsmith tomorrow, I’m beat.”

Nodding lightly with a pleased smile, Lailah clapped her hands together. “I’ll be sure to find a good one for you, Sorey. For now, Zaveid and Edna, shall we continue our purification lessons?” She turned to look hopefully at Mikleo. “Since you’re here, would you like to join us?”

Mikleo shook his head, tapping his staff on his shoulder. “Maybe another time. I’ll stay with Sorey and see if I can get him to focus on just one element.” Shifting his staff, he jabbed it in Sorey’s direction. “I know it’s a tall order but I’ll do my best.”

Letting out a bark of a laugh, Zaveid waved a hand. “Good luck with that, Mickey. If you can do that, it might make our jobs a lot easier later.”

As the other three left, Sorey let out a heavy breath and moved to sit beside the river. He leaned back to look at Mikleo who was still walking towards him. “So, you haven’t learned purification techniques yet? I thought that would be the first thing you’d do.”

“I thought about it when the first new Shepherds started showing up but…” The water seraph trailed off, looking troubled as he sat down beside Sorey. Mikleo said nothing for a moment, simply watching the water in front of him. “Honing my existing skills came first. I’ve never gotten around to asking Lailah for lessons.”

Once more, Sorey felt like his friend was holding something back on him. It was troublesome as they once had told each other everything – well, almost everything. He supposed it was unfair to say they’d shared everything in their hearts considering what secret Sorey had held onto for so long.

Sorey had held back because of his mortality. He felt it wouldn’t be fair to Mikleo if he admitted such feelings only to die a blink of an eye later in a seraph’s lifetime. Mikleo deserved better and he could make anyone happy when he got close enough to them. Now, he had all the time in the world but still he held back simply because he felt that Mikleo likely had found someone he cared for. Why he wasn’t with that person, Sorey couldn’t say, but it just felt like there was a secret the seraph was hiding. Poorly, but still hiding it all the same.

Setting aside those thoughts, Sorey idly reached out with one hand to focus on the water in front of him. “I think it’d be weird for a former Shepherd to be a Shepherd’s Prime Lord,” he said, smiling at the thought. “I already have a vow so I wouldn’t have to hide anything from them, good or bad.”

“That’s not as much of a problem now as it would have been in the past. The Shepherds of today would never have to make the decision you did,” Mikleo pointed out.

Well, that was true enough. Sorey turned the thoughts over in his mind as he worked some water into an orb, growing it bit by bit. “When I get the chance, I’m going to explore the world again. There’s so much I’ve missed and everything’s changed.” With a gentle pulse, Sorey froze the orb of water and let it drop into his palm. “There’s more than just ruins to explore out there.”

Laughing gently, Mikleo smirked at his friend. “More like you want to admire the world you built.”

“Hey, it’s not like that!” Sorey protested, quickly unfreezing the orb of ice and tossing it at Mikleo. “I wasn’t even really the one who built it. Maotelus is the one who influences the world’s energies, I was just along for the ride.”

Wiping water from his face, the water seraph rolled his eyes. “Always humble, aren’t you? Without you, Maotelus would’ve continued pushing malevolence into everything. Right now, we still have to worry about the malevolence everyone has but it’s so much less than before.”

“Even so, I know that the world’s in good hands now that there’s so many Shepherds.”

Sorey idly continued to work the water in front of him until he realized he felt Mikleo’s eyes on him. He looked over curiously, pausing what he was doing. “What?”

Reaching forward with a hand, Mikleo tugged at a lock of Sorey’s hair. “Your hair’s lightening already.”

If it was meant to distract him, it was an effective distraction as he reached up with his hands to touch his hair. Sorey lost control of what he was doing, letting the water drop back into the flowing river. Crawling forward, he looked into the water at his reflection before sitting back with a whine. “Does it _have_ to do that? I’m going to look like an old man.”

“Are you saying I look like an old man?” Mikleo muttered, shooting a glare to Sorey.

“Maybe,” Sorey replied, drawing out the word teasingly. Unable to help himself, he laughed as his shoulder was jabbed at. “Seriously though, why do some seraphs have white hair with coloured tips and others just have solid hair colours?”

Twirling a lock of his own blue-tipped hair around a finger, Mikleo smiled lightly. “It’s about the latent power within a seraph. Strange as it sounds, the more powerful a seraph is, the more likely their hair is to lighten and have the colour of their element at the tips,” he said. “Being one with all the elements, you’ll be lucky to not have rainbow hair.”

With his hair so short, it was impossible for Sorey to look at it without a mirror. “Suddenly, I’m not so sure I want to harness all the powers I’ve got. I’ll never hear the end of it from anyone if I’ve got rainbow-tipped hair.”

“I think it’s more likely you’ll have a mixture of the colours. You’ll have to get some paint and try to see what it comes out as,” Mikleo suggested. “I can’t imagine it’s going to be pretty. No lipstick for the pig this time.”

Sighing dramatically, Sorey made a face as he pulled some water from the river then used a blast of wind to blow it at his friend. “You haven’t got a sympathetic bone in your body, even after four hundred years.”

There was no warning as a large amount of water was suddenly dropped on top of Sorey. Even though he didn’t need to breathe, he still reached up to clear away his nose and mouth of water. He slicked back his hair with a soft noise before sighing heavily.

“I keep doing that, don’t I? I’m still thinking of myself as a human,” he muttered.

“Don’t you think that’s understandable? You started life as a human so it’s only natural you’ll keep thinking you are one for a long time.” Mikleo smiled in that way that Sorey loved so much, a familiar look of understanding on the seraph’s face. “You may have spent a few hundred years as a seraph but you haven’t lived those years as one yet.”

Unlike Mikleo who didn’t even know he was human until much later in life. The only reason the water seraph even mimicked being human was because of Sorey. Living beyond humans for so long, Sorey wondered if he’d lost some of those mannerisms. Would he return to them now that Sorey was back?

“Sorey?”

Startled, Sorey looked up to Mikleo. He paused before laughing slightly. “Sorry, I was just thinking about what you said. You’re right but I wonder if I’ll ever stop thinking of myself as a human.” Lifting a hand, Sorey flexed it with a frown. “We met a few Shepherds who became seraphs when we went through the trials. Maybe I should ask them how they got used to being what they are.”

Obviously confused, Mikleo tilted his head to one side and arched a brow. “It’s not so bad if you act like a human, you know. There’s no harm in a seraph eating or sleeping and you know that.”

“It’s…hard to explain. There’s other things beyond that,” Sorey said, trying to not let his cheeks redden. It was embarrassing that his mind went that way, though it was hardly the first time he’d experienced it while right next to Mikleo.

“’Other things’, huh? I’d ask you to elaborate but I have a feeling you wouldn’t.” Mikleo sighed softly. “I guess it’s not fair to you that I’m not exactly forthcoming with things, either. We both have our secrets.”

Grinning sheepishly, Sorey rubbed at the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t exactly say it’s all secrets. Even though I grew up around seraphs and I know a lot about them, it’s more about their power than the finer details,” he said, shifting to sit cross-legged. “Not needing to breathe means there’s no heartbeat in my chest anymore. Yet, I still _think_ I need to breathe.”

Humming thoughtfully, Mikleo put a hand under his chin. “I’ve…never thought about it.” Furrowing his brow, Mikleo shifted his position so he could face his friend. “There were a lot of things about you that I just accepted as who you were. You’d about pass out from exhaustion if we stayed up too late and that constant need to eat.”

Sorey definitely wasn’t going to get into the “other things” he’d originally thought of with Mikleo. Knowing him, he’d screw up and let how he felt slip out. Part of him truly did wonder if what Mikleo was hiding was that he’d fallen in love. Or perhaps it was something else entirely.

A hand on his shoulder made the former Shepherd look up into Mikleo’s reassuring gaze. “Don’t worry so much about it. If it really becomes a problem, we’ll go look for a human-turned-seraph. You’re making a big deal out of something that’s not going to hurt you in the long run.”

As he’d expected, any further speculation by Mikleo wasn’t going to happen. It made Sorey let out a heavy breath before falling backwards with a noise of exasperation. “You’re right, I’ll figure it out.”

“Maybe you could work on focusing for your artes instead. Once you start thinking of yourself as a seraph, it might stop you from having phantom human traits.”

If only Mikleo knew that it went further than Sorey could ever say.


	4. Asking the Expert

The training was harsh and unrelenting. Sorey took Mikleo’s advice and threw himself into honing his skills as a seraph. Slowly but surely, he began to let go of some of his human traits.

Resting, at least, was still one thing that all creatures did. Sorey wasn’t sure he could easily give up a soft bed anytime soon. There was something to be said about watching the sun set and then rise without feeling horrible the next day. Still, it felt rewarding to fall into a bed at the inn after training for who knew how long.

One thing he couldn’t forget were his “other” worries. His body had changed, he could feel it very clearly now that he’d been working with seraphic artes more frequently. There were some things that seemed to stubbornly hang on, perhaps only because he didn’t want to let it go. It was still embarrassing to speak of to anyone as he was clueless whether it was strange to be the way he was. Of all his seraphic friends, there was only one he knew he could talk to about it, though it was definitely not an easy subject to bring up.

It was even more difficult finding time alone to do it. Since returning, Sorey and Mikleo had gone back to being practically inseparable. As the days went by, the water seraph seemed to relax more and more. It appeared that talking about the days Sorey was gone was easier for Mikleo the more time they spent together. Mikleo always found a way to be at Sorey’s side.

None of it made it easier on Sorey who had been getting closer to admitting his long-denied feelings for his best friend. Time was still the one thing Sorey had a difficult time with. While everyone around him had changed, he hadn’t changed nearly as much. It was very easy to consider himself human which only made him feel more urgency to admit what was in his heart.

“ _Vengeant Fangs_!”

The training dummy they’d been using shuddered as the seraphic arte was unleashed. Sorey nodded slightly as he sheathed the sword he now used. It was definitely the perfect balance for him and it showed in his improvements.

“That was magnificent,” Zaveid crowed, coming up to slap Sorey on the back. “I’m telling you; I’ve never seen a young seraph take to their element like this so quickly.”

Edna smiled softly, moving to open her parasol. “I never imagined I could agree with Zaveid.”

“Let’s not forget that you have all of the elements at your disposal. That makes your accomplishments that much more amazing, Sorey,” Lailah said, holding her hands together in front of her. “You should be proud.”

An amused laugh followed Mikleo as he let his staff dissipate. “Don’t praise him too much or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Come on, Mikleo. Can’t I feel a little proud of myself?” Sorey whined slightly. “This stuff is hard to work with!”

Rolling his eyes, the water seraph shrugged and went to Sorey’s side, elbowing him. “Fine, I’ll let you have it – just this once. Don’t get used to it. Once you start getting an ego, you’ll lose your edge before you know it.”

“Meebo’s right. It’s one thing to pretend to be the best, quite another to actually be the best,” Edna said, tapping her parasol on her shoulder. “Don’t let your head get to big. I won’t be happy if you’ve wasted my time.”

Laughing gently, Sorey nodded. “Yeah, I know. I have a long way to go before I could consider myself close to your levels of experience. There’s no shortcut for this sort of thing.”

Lailah smiled and almost bounced on her feet. “I’m so glad you’re still so positive, Sorey. I see you giving this the same effort you gave to your Shepherd duties.” That made her pause a moment, her smile softening. “This is not as much of a burden as being a Shepherd was. Harnessing your powers is important but you could easily get by with the power you have now.”

“Don’t encourage him to be lazy, Lailah,” Edna muttered. “I think this is enough for today from me. We’re overdue for our own purification lessons.”

Dang it all. Sorey looked over to Zaveid who was already turning to follow Lailah and Edna. “Zaveid, could you wait up a moment?” He turned back to Mikleo who was peering at him curiously. “Could you go on ahead without me? I remember you had a few books you wanted to collect and we could look at.”

Mikleo looked at Sorey then to Zaveid before he let out a gentle sigh. “Okay, but you’ll be at our room before the sun goes down, right?”

“Huh? Of course, I won’t be that long,” Sorey replied in mild confusion. He gave his friend a reassuring smile, lifting up his arm in the way they usually greeted and said farewell. “I promise, Mikleo. We still need to plan a trip to see those ruins you saw without me.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Mikleo nodded and reached up to let his wrist bump against Sorey’s. “We can do that when you get back. I’ll grab the books and some extra maps.” Seemingly at ease now, the water seraph began to run back in the direction of Ladylake. “See you, Sorey!”

Waving a hand, Sorey let out a sigh as worry gripped him. There were some things he could say that would just make Mikleo say something odd. They’d been practically inseparable, he knew, but surely his friend knew he wasn’t going to vanish.

“I’m shocked he’s letting you out of his sight for more than a few minutes,” Zaveid commented, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. “He’s been attached to you at the hip since you got back.”

Sorey chuckled softly. “We’ve always been that way. You should know that by now.”

Frowning slightly, Zaveid finally shrugged a shoulder. “So, what’s this all about? Figure it must be important if you’re ditching Mikboy to hang out with me.”

Right, the reason he’d wanted to speak with Zaveid. Sorey felt embarrassment and anxiety grip him as he looked up to the wind seraph. “Is there somewhere a bit more out of the way that we can go talk? I really don’t want anyone to overhear us.”

From the look on the wind seraph’s face, Sorey could tell he’d caught his attention. If there was one thing he knew about Zaveid it was that making him interested in something was important. Unfortunately, Sorey wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the topic he was going to bring up. He could tell that his discomfort was showing on his face as a wide grin tugged at Zaveid’s mouth.

“All right, Sorey. Hold on.”

Without any extra warning, Zaveid grabbed Sorey’s arm then used his seraphic ability to, well, teleport. That was the only way that Sorey could describe it as they were whisked away to the tree tops. It was far away from Ladylake though he could still see the capital from where they were. It distracted him enough that Sorey let out a whoop of excitement.

“That’s so cool! You have to teach me how to do that,” he said, turning on the thick branch they perched on.

There was a moment that Sorey was sure he saw fondness in Zaveid’s face. “We’re getting there. Don’t rush it or you’re going to learn absolutely nothing in a hurry.” He shifted to lean against the trunk of the tree, folding his arms behind his head. “So, what’s so important that you need to talk to me in secret?”

Brought back to reality, Sorey turned to sit on the branch before straddling it and putting his hands on the tree’s limb. “I need you to promise me that what we talk about doesn’t go beyond here,” he said, putting as much pleading as he could into his face.

“Whoa, you’re serious about this. I can’t promise it won’t carry on the wind but nothing will leave my lips. They’re sealed tighter than a merchant’s coin purse.”

Of course, the wind carried everything. Not much they could do about that but he doubted any wind seraphim would care much about their conversation. Still, now that he’d gotten this far, Sorey felt worry grip him. There was no doubt Zaveid would laugh and joke about it, he’d been prepared for that. All he wanted were some serious answers.

“I, uh, had a question about you, actually.” As the wind seraph looked at him with an arched brow, Sorey swallowed lightly. “Do you really, ah, I mean, have you actually been with someone in _that_ way?”

Zaveid made a noise as he tried to process what Sorey was asking before a sly grin appeared on his face. “Did you seriously ask me here to talk about my sex life? The choirboy _does_ have some balls after all.”

Oh, that did it. Sorey felt his cheeks heat and he looked downwards. “I-I know, it’s not something people usually talk about – “

“Oh, please!” Zaveid said, letting out a sharp laugh. “I don’t think you have the slightest idea what most people talk about. Sex is a universal language, baby! You can say a hundred words with one motion once you learn the tongue.”

Sorey shifted slightly, taking in a shaky breath. “You’re probably right that I don’t know what a lot of people talk about. With how I grew up, the topic never came up around the people I knew.”

Wincing slightly, the wind seraph leaned forward, bending a knee to rest his arm on it. “Top it all off that you grew up as the only human, I can’t imagine going through puberty like that.” As Sorey looked up at him, Zaveid shrugged. “Sorey, I don’t hate humans, never have. I’ve paid attention to how humans grow and change compared to seraphs so I can at least get an idea of where you’re coming from.”

“Yeah. I didn’t ask Gramps about it because it didn’t feel right to bother him with what I felt was a ‘human’ problem.”

“Then how did you deal with it?” Zaveid asked with genuine curiosity.

“Uh, books, mostly. I have a feeling Gramps put them on my shelf on purpose so he could avoid talking about it,” Sorey murmured, reaching up to rub at one arm nervously. “He knew I wasn’t about to leave his protection but…”

“Human boys will be curious about what the hell’s going on between their legs,” Zaveid finished, smirking slightly. “That had to be awkward. I sure don’t envy what you went through.”

Making a gentle noise, Sorey looked back down. It _had_ been awkward, especially in the mornings. No matter how much he tried to cram his head with ruins and the Celestial Record, it didn’t stop his body from reacting at inappropriate times. Once he figured out how to keep his needs at bay, it was a little easier but still weird and awkward at times.

“Look, I’ll level with you, Sorey. Seraphs generally don’t think of sex since we don’t need it. A lot of us view it as something humans do for procreation, which isn’t exactly wrong but isn’t completely right, either,” Zaveid said, shaking his head and shrugging. “To answer your question from earlier, yeah, I’ve done the deed more than once with seraph and human alike.”

There was no reason to doubt what Zaveid said, though it didn’t instill much confidence in Sorey. It meant that there was a possibility it could work out. “I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone I choose to be with.”

The wind seraph tilted his head as he leaned back once more. “Anyone you choose would have to be familiar with how you came into being, I’d think. Seraphs have to be conscious of that sort of thing,” he said. “I’ll expect you to have more human traits for another few centuries, if not longer.”

Mikleo was more than familiar with him, more so than any other person in the world. It was no wonder Sorey’s heart had settled on him but it was difficult to admit. The last thing he wanted was to make things weird between them. Ruining their friendship would hurt them both in the long run. Yet, here he was asking whether seraphim even had a sex drive like he did.

“What made you want to explore, Zaveid?” Sorey asked, trying not to overthink.

“Caught a couple in an alleyway going at it by accident. Went from thinking it was a chore to wondering why it got so heated between them.” A tight grin tugged at the seraph’s mouth. “Found out why in a hurry, that’s for sure.”

Flushing again, Sorey let out a soft breath. “I shouldn’t be thinking of this at all,” he muttered.

“Come on, you’re not a Shepherd any longer. It’s not as if you have to keep yourself pure and saintly now. Though, from what you’re telling me, you already had a girlfriend with old righty,” Zaveid said, chuckling lightly. “Which means you weren’t actually as chaste as I thought. It’s actually surprising considering how you didn’t ever seem to pick up what I was laying down.”

“They don’t teach what you talk about in books,” Sorey pointed out with a nervous grin.

“Fair enough. I am curious to know why you’re thinking about going straight to tangling in the sheets. Doesn’t seem like your style and I haven’t seen you around anyone but us,” Zaveid said, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. “Don’t you think you should make a move first?”

Sorey hesitated a moment before he straightened himself. “I will but I needed to be sure I wasn’t going to make the other person uncomfortable. You’re the first and only seraph I’ve met that’s interested in, uh, _that_.”

Zaveid seemed to enjoy the way Sorey danced around calling the act what it was. The grin on the wind seraph’s face just got wider. “Outwardly, you mean. You should give whoever your sweet little heart’s set on a bit of credit. Admission is half the battle, after all.” Chuckling softly, Zaveid closed his eyes and shifted to get more comfortable. “Not that I’d know. Wind seraphs aren’t known for being the ‘settle down’ types. Dezel was an anomaly, not the norm.”

Pausing in momentary confusion, Sorey folded his arms across his chest. He supposed that it could look like ‘settling down” to someone as free as Zaveid. Dezel had only wanted to keep going with the Windriders and even stuck around after they became the Scattered Bones and Sparrowfeathers. For a wind seraph to show such restraint had to be odd for one like Zaveid.

“I haven’t seen you this twisted up about something since before fighting Heldalf. I can already tell that you’re into someone who’s in our posse.”

Looking up sharply, Sorey was going to deny it but he knew it would be pointless. What he thought hadn’t been obvious clearly was since their human friends had died centuries ago. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yeah, kinda. I know it can’t be me considering I think you’d have spilled it already.” Zaveid tapped his foot while he pondered, his eyebrows raising slightly. “No wonder you’re all tied up in knots. Come on, you can’t possibly want to go after the ice princess Mikboy.”

“He’s not that cold,” Sorey protested. He made a noise as he realized he’d just made it clear he definitely was interested in Mikleo, shoulders slumping slightly. “I…tried to tell him a few times but I couldn’t do that to him when I was human. Since I’m a seraph now, I want to be honest with him but I feel like he’s hiding something from me.”

Humming thoughtfully, the wind seraph closed his eyes again. “Whatever it is, you’ll have to work it out yourselves. You should know that I haven’t seen Mikleo this happy since you left us. The kid’s got a streak of pride bigger than any canyon I’ve seen so take that as you will.”

Sorey’s mind went back to what Mikleo had said, how he’d been “aimless” after Sorey had left. What Zaveid was saying was that the water seraph had been fairly bad off, probably much worse than Mikleo himself would ever articulate. Zaveid was right that Mikleo had his pride. Letting anyone know how much of a wreck he’d been, especially Sorey, would likely never happen.

“Ever think maybe Mickey feels the same way?” Zaveid arched a brow before grinning widely. “I’ll take that look on your face for a ‘no’. Take a chance and go for it, Sorey. Worry about tangling in the sheets later, just focus on your heart.”

“For someone who never seems to settle down, that’s good advice,” Sorey commented.

“Hey, I _get_ the romance thing, it doesn’t mean I have to play the game myself.”

There was no way that Sorey could get better advice than that. “Thanks, Zaveid.”

Chuckling lightly, the wind seraph could only smirk. “Thank me after you score, buddy. Good luck with all that. I’ve got a feeling you’ll need it.”


	5. Mayvin's Return

Spending nights holed up in their room was something familiar for Sorey. They would wait until the candles burned low before giving into the need for rest. Other times they’d simply fall asleep while reading the Celestial Record and speculating. They were fond memories that Sorey held onto and was glad to return to doing it while he and Mikleo stayed in Ladylake.

“You’ve been acclimating to the new world so slowly, Sorey,” Mikleo said, coming over to the bed. He held out a cup full of cool water for the other to take before sliding onto the bed himself. “You got used to it so much faster when you became a Shepherd.”

“The world was new and exciting back then, too. I don’t think I ever got used to the way the world was.” Sorey took the cup and sipped from it with a hum as he looked back to the book in his lap. “I didn’t have nearly four-hundred years to catch up on, either.”

It hadn’t been any easier since the chat with Zaveid to broach the subject of his heart. Love was difficult to speak of compared to ruins and explorations.

Sorey was definitely more interested in the book he was reading. “You’re really good at writing, Mikleo,” he said, flipping the page. “I had no idea you could draw so well, either.”

“I knew you’d appreciate my work. Zaveid didn’t even bother and Edna thought it was boring,” Mikleo said, smiling at his friend. “Lailah helped a little by pointing out some of my mistakes that I corrected before binding.”

There was something unsaid about the process and Sorey was now certain that Mikleo wished they’d been together. The more he paid attention to these things, the more he understood. Zaveid was definitely right that it was Mikleo’s pride holding his tongue. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Sorey to know how much he’d missed him; he simply couldn’t bring himself to go back to those days.

Eyes dancing over the page he was on, Sorey put his hand on the picture of the ruin he was familiar with. “You should make more copies of this. Imagine how many other explorers you could inspire like we were with the Celestial Record,” he said, looking up once more. “I guess we’ll have to bring notebooks of our own when we set out.”

For a while now, they’d both been making references to setting out to go ruins hopping. Mikleo’s eyes lit up at the mention and he nodded eagerly. No matter how mature the water seraph appeared now, Mikleo was still the same one Sorey had fallen in love with.

“Plenty of them. I was thinking that we’ll collaborate to make a book when we’ve visited enough.” Gesturing to the book that Sorey had, Mikleo leaned forward slightly. “That book is filled with the ruins as we saw them when we journeyed together.”

Well, no wonder it all looked so familiar. “You should have gone back to see if there was anything new,” Sorey said as he flipped another page.

The mention of it made Mikleo shift and Sorey was certain that he couldn’t bring himself to go there without Sorey at his side. “Mikleo, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” the water seraph muttered. “I should be the one apologizing. You did what you had to do for a better world and I know that.”

“It was still difficult for you.”

Making a noise of irritation, Mikleo stood up and went to set his cup on the table not far from the beds. “That doesn’t matter. You followed through with your answer, we _all_ did. Looking at everything now, I see that it was the right one – the only one.”

So, that was how Mikleo attempted to convince himself through the years that he shouldn’t be upset. What Zaveid had said made it obvious that it’d taken a long time before he’d gotten this far. There wasn’t enough that Sorey could do to make it up to his childhood friend, really.

“I spent a long time wondering why it hurt so much more knowing you were alive but might die to purify Maotelus. For a while, I worried I’d never see you again.” Mikleo looked over his shoulder briefly before he turned around and went back to sit on the bed. This time, he was much closer to Sorey, his amethyst eyes searching his friend’s emerald ones.

It was, perhaps, the most intimate moment the two had ever shared. Sorey could have easily called attention to a few others but there was a totally different energy between them now. All of the hurt, anger, and relief was reflected in Mikleo’s eyes which would have been lost on anyone but Sorey. They knew each other so well that the extra few centuries had barely put so much of a crack between them.

At one point, Sorey knew he’d be backing off. He didn’t even so much as flinch away from the other seraph. “I wish I could make it up to you, Mikleo,” Sorey murmured. “Did you ever find out why?”

Nodding, Mikleo got even closer. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Both of them jumped in surprise though neither moved away from the other. Instead, they looked at each other and let out soft chuckles which broke the moment between them.

“Who is it?” Mikleo called, finally sliding off the bed.

“An old friend.”

It was Mikleo who went to the door, pulling it open with a wide smile. “Rose! It’s so good to see you again.”

“Oh, look at you. That smile of yours is so bright,” Rose said, Sorey only seeing her gloved hands as she put them on Mikleo’s cheeks. “There’s only one reason you’d be smiling like that. Are you going to invite me in or are you keeping him to yourself?”

Setting the book aside, Sorey shifted to slide off the bed and set his cup on the night stand. Just as he stood, Mikleo stepped aside to let their old friend in.

Rose had aged beautifully. Sorey hadn’t expected to see her again once they’d parted. “It’s good to see you, Rose.”

Putting her hands on her hips, Rose let out a huff. “Over three-hundred years and that’s all you can say to me? Get your butt over here.”

Chuckling softly, Sorey went over to her, not surprised in the least when she wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace that held more emotion than Sorey expected. Rose was the one who pulled away first, reaching up to wipe at her eyes idly.

“So, you’re a seraph now. I caught up with Lailah first and she told me you’d come back a few months ago.” Rose reached up and rapped a knuckle on her friend’s forehead. “I can’t believe you didn’t come looking for me first! What was I to you?”

“How are we supposed to know where you are?” Mikleo asked grumpily, closing the door before sitting on his bed. “Sorey’s been trying to train to use his elements before we go anywhere. We would have found you eventually.”

Rose looked to the water seraph before looking to Sorey. She put a hand under her chin as she scrutinized him carefully, humming to herself. “Elements? You have more than one? Rare for a seraph, but I’ll admit that humans becoming seraphim themselves is pretty rare.”

Unlike with Mikleo, Sorey could only laugh nervously as he leaned back. “I’ve got all four so Lailah, Edna, Zaveid, and Mikleo have been teaching me how to use them.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Rose muttered. “And here I thought I’d have the most interesting story out of us by becoming Mayvin. Feels good to hear my old name again.”

Both Sorey and Mikleo looked sheepish as they were reminded of Rose’s station. Sorey moved to sit on the other side of Mikleo’s bed while Rose sat down. “How does it feel to be even more of a ruins nerd than we are?” Sorey lightly teased.

The Storyteller rolled her eyes as she crossed one leg over the other. “Don’t you start. Guess I should be glad you haven’t said anything about how old and grey I am now,” Rose muttered. “Just had to wait until I was old before becoming the Storyteller. Not like you. You haven’t changed much, even if your hair’s starting to lighten up.”

“I’m still hoping it won’t go all white. I think it’d look weird on me if it did. Looks like the tips are going to stay just the way they are.” Sorey turned slightly as he felt Mikleo’s eyes on him. “A little late to ask if there’s a trick to keeping my hair the way it is right now, isn’t it?”

“A seraph’s power determines a lot of things. You’ll be lucky if you keep just the tips,” Mikleo said, grinning slightly.

“All we need are the other three and it’d feel like old times,” Rose sighed. There was a peaceful look on her face that said how grateful she was. “What can you tell me about your time with Maotelus, Sorey? No one can give me details which means you’ve got a hell of a vow to keep.”

If he were being honest, Sorey barely thought of his vow as of late. The initial curiosity had gone away as quickly as it came once he stated he had one. All seraphs understood the power that a vow granted and how easily it could be undone if the wrong thing was said. Eventually, it would become a problem if he branched out and joined a Shepherd on their journey.

Nodding once, Sorey frowned deeply. “I do wish I could tell you everything, Rose. The gifts that Maotelus gave to me carried a big price.”

“I don’t doubt it. Becoming a seraph and commanding all the elements? You’re a Shepherd’s dream Prime Lord.”

Even thinking of becoming someone’s Prime Lord was low on Sorey’s priority list. He barely felt like he was satisfactory with the elements. Focusing on all four was difficult and he knew he had years ahead of him to perfect them.

“How have your travels as Storyteller been, Rose?” Mikleo asked. “We both thought we’d catch up to you in some ruins eventually.”

As if grateful for the shift in topic, Rose pulled out a long pipe and tapped it. She noticed the look Sorey gave to her and smirked. “Don’t look at me that way. I’ve gotten so much older and everyone has their vices.” Filling the pipe with a finger, she lit it and drew from it briefly. “I came here to pay my usual respects to Alisha and Sergei. Also heard there was some weird seraph that looked like a Shepherd hanging around.”

Oh, oops. “Uh, yeah,” Sorey laughed nervously. “I didn’t stop using the Shepherd’s cloak until a couple of months ago. Old habits are hard to get rid of. I got so used to wearing it that I felt strange without it.”

“You say that like you broke some kind of rule by keeping it on. Worst case scenario is someone mistakes you for a Shepherd. You can at least tell them you were a Shepherd once,” Rose laughed softly. “How far does your vow go, Sorey? Taking a wild guess, you can’t tell me about your time with Maotelus.”

Shaking his head, Sorey shifted to sit cross-legged on the bed. “Anything from when I first merged with Maotelus and when I came back is off limits. Merging with him meant we shared some information that might put him in danger.” Such as Maotelus’s True Name and origins. “All I can promise is that I won’t act like Lailah when you ask me something I can’t answer.”

“Oh, thank god. I don’t think I could handle you doing what she does if you fly too close to her oath.” Rose took a long draw from the pipe and blew out fragrant smoke that curled around in the room. “How do you like the new world? I think it’s pretty nifty.”

“’Nifty’ she says, like she didn’t have a hand in making it,” Mikleo said, rolling his eyes.

“It was a group effort, you know that,” Rose shot back. “I would never have become a Shepherd if Sorey hadn’t taken me as a Squire first.”

The banter about things that came after his time made Sorey smile lightly. It was fun imagining the adventures like they were written in another Celestial Record. They’d all dropped some of the funny incidents while travelling with Rose and her eventual Squire. Part of him still wondered if they were holding back the less-than-pretty parts of their travels for his sake.

A light snort from Mikleo made Sorey look over to his friend. “You mean Sorey did most of the work while we all tagged along.”

Blinking in confusion, Sorey made a soft noise of disagreement. “Mikleo, it wasn’t just me – “

“Such modesty.” Rose interrupted the seraph’s thoughts as she leaned back in her chair. “I hate to admit it but Mikleo’s not entirely wrong. I took up the mantle of being a Shepherd because we all expected a new Lord of Calamity. Malevolence was rampant even without Heldalf spreading it and I still can’t count how many hellions we dealt with.”

Just as he’d suspected, there were terrible stories to offset the ones that had been told to him. “Then how can you say I did so much work? All of you were here, still fighting for the world we all believed in.”

As Mikleo remained silent, almost seeming angry about something while Rose let out a soft sigh. “Things started changing a lot faster than we expected.”

“Seraphs started realizing they had the power of purification and more humans started being born with high resonance,” Mikleo said, his voice quiet. He had his arms across his chest, not looking at either of them. “None of that would have happened if you weren’t with Maotelus.”

The look that Rose gave to the water seraph was one Sorey had a hard time deciphering. “Still repeating that to yourself? You’re not wrong but he’s right there, Mikleo.”

Feeling completely lost, Sorey looked between his friends. Neither seemed to be very forthcoming with clarifying what they were talking about. Sorey let out a soft breath. “I’ll always think that it wasn’t just me. Who would have trained new Shepherds but you, Rose? And Mikleo, you helped her, didn’t you?”

“Of course!” Mikleo grumped.

“What he’s getting at is that no one would have changed if you hadn’t initiated it. Trust me, we were all there. Both humans and seraphs are stubborn creatures, the latter can afford to dig their heels in hard,” Rose clarified. She pressed her lips together tightly for a moment before slowly puffing away on her pipe. “In the end, it was up to them to work it out.”

In many ways, Sorey had hoped that his friends had led the charge in that regard. “I guess I should just be glad that everything worked out. Even with Maotelus purified, the world could have easily fallen to malevolence no matter what we did.”

Uncrossing his arms, Mikleo looked over at his friend with a deep sigh. “We all got lucky.”

Rose chuckled and tapped her pipe on the table. “You got that right. Just you wait until tomorrow when I get to tell you stories. Seems like this lot’s been lazy about sharing what we experienced,” she said, getting to her feet. “I’ll be expecting you there, Sorey and Mikleo. We owe it to Alisha and Sergei to honour them the right way.”

“What’s tomorrow?” Sorey asked, tipping his head in curiosity.

Finally, a smile touched at Mikleo’s lips, one that was fond and full of emotion. “Their wedding day.”


	6. Memories and the Future

“It was such a beautiful wedding. I remember it like it was yesterday,” Lailah said, her voice dreamy as she walked.

Gaining entrance to the royal mausoleum was easier than Sorey had thought it would be. It was through Lailah, Mikleo, Edna, and Zaveid that they were allowed special permissions to enter. The seraph’s names persisted through the years and they still held importance to the royal family.

“The dress she wore was beautiful,” Rose sighed with a smile. “Sergei cleaned up really nicely, too. It helped that he was a gentleman underneath all that armour.”

“The best part was that no one could see me making eyes at the bride.” Zaveid grinned widely before yelping as Edna poked him with her parasol. “Present company excepted.”

Sorey smiled lightly as he took in the light banter between them. He knew that they were reminiscing for his sake, filling him in the best way they knew how. It was also like them to celebrate their lives rather than the day of their deaths. A wedding was a much happier occasion to mark and Sorey was grateful for that.

He slowed down as the group slowed then followed their gazes to the painting above the grave markers. Sorey looked at the familiar faces, both smiling happily in their wedding attire. Slowly, he smiled softly as he took in the sight completely, memories of their time together flooding back. Even if he’d spent a lot of time with Maotelus and took the unfathomable amount of memories from the Lord, Sorey still had his own memories.

“I still remember when we first met. I never imagined that they’d marry one another,” Sorey said, his eyes still on the painting. “Alisha thought I was so weird when I brought her to Elysia and tried to introduce her to everyone. Even though I’ve been back for months now, I still have a hard time remembering what I am and what I’m not.”

Even the mark of the Shepherd was gone from Sorey’s left hand. Not that anyone could tell considering he wore the glove on his hand still. It was his vessel, after all. He couldn’t remove it and leave it lying around just anywhere.

The others stayed silent as Sorey put his hands on the plates that marked the graves of his friends. “I’m glad you two had long, happy lives together.”

It was Edna who came up beside him, putting a hand on Alisha’s stone as well. “The reception was boring without you there,” she said, looking at Sorey with a slight grin. “Meebo was such a wallflower and Zaveid kept trying to peek under every woman’s skirt.”

“Hey, what was I _supposed_ to do? It’s not like we could talk to anyone else there,” Mikleo grumbled. “I thought the reception was fine but it would have been better with Sorey there. Rose, that was the first time we ever saw you drunk.”

Lailah made a soft noise. “It was appalling behaviour for a Shepherd! We were all lucky you were in a safe place where no one could lead you astray, Rose.”

The Storyteller’s eyes rolled as if she’d been lectured about it a hundred times in recent memory. “I didn’t do it again and everything turned out. You need to let go, Lailah. It’s been centuries already and I made a good Shepherd.”

“Even if she did get into trouble, she had us with her. Like we’d let anyone get within ten feet of her while she was like that,” Zaveid said, nudging up the hat he still wore. “Nothing like a few invisible umbrella prods to send a guy packing.”

“True. It works on you even now,” Edna said, giving the wind seraph a poke.

As the two argued over the proper use of an umbrella for possibly the hundredth time, Rose came and put a hand on Sorey’s shoulder. “About what you said. Are you really still having trouble separating yourself from being human?”

He nodded lightly. “I really had no concept of time when I was with Maotelus. When I emerged at Camlann, that was the first time I understood I wasn’t human anymore.” Sorey set a hand on his stomach and grinned sheepishly. “I noticed early on that I didn’t feel hungry even though I hadn’t eaten anything for centuries.”

“Just like you to think about your stomach first,” Mikleo muttered, having come up to Sorey’s other side. “We talked about this a while ago. It doesn’t hurt you to keep thinking of yourself as a human and it will get easier as time goes on.”

“Speaking from experience, you’ll get used to not needing certain things eventually, it sure makes sitting down for a good stew more rewarding, though!” Rose laughed. “Mikleo could tell you some stories, let me tell you.”

The words apparently struck a memory with Mikleo who chuckled softly. “You’re not doing so badly compared to how long it took Rose to get used to being invisible.”

“Sorey’s cheating because almost everyone can see seraphim now,” Edna chimed in. “The Storyteller is a special seraph that can become visible to all when taking up their role. Until she took the name of Mayvin, Rose got to experience being bumped around like a rock on a path.”

A loud laugh left Zaveid as he leaned against the wall. “Those were some fun times. I’d never seen anyone more frustrated they couldn’t be heard or seen. Most seraphs didn’t really care too much but Rose sure cared and damn did we hear about it.”

“Let’s not forget that we don’t know what that is like,” Lailah said, looking to Rose. “As seraphim ourselves, we’ve been used to going in and out of the range of human senses. Just as Rose had to get accustomed to being unseen, we’ve had to get accustomed to being seen.”

It was something that Sorey hadn’t really thought about since returning. No one he’d encountered had even so much as nudged him the wrong way. That was likely another thing attributing to his inability to detach himself from his human life. One more in a sea of reasons that held far too much weight in his mind.

With Rose there, it was like flood gates were opened and Sorey was bombarded with the memories of his friends. The first child Alisha and Sergei had, the Squire that Rose had taken on who later became her successor. Sorey let them take him through their lives, the good and the bad.

Eventually, they filed out of the mausoleum and back into the side area on the palace grounds. The sun was already going down, casting a bright orange hue over the area. Upon leaving through the gates, they walked through the noble’s quarter and paused at the top of the stairs once in Ladylake proper. Rose turned to them and pointed at Sorey.

“All right, you lot. You four can find something to amuse yourselves while the humans have a nice talk,” she announced, making shooing motions with her hands. “Don’t give me that look, you’ll all live without him for an hour or two. It’s my turn to steal time with him.”

As expected, Mikleo looked the most put out by it but he followed when his glove was tugged by Edna. “Don’t keep him out too late. He might turn into something horrible if he’s not at Meebo’s side by midnight.”

“Edna!” Mikleo growled, reluctantly following after the earth seraph.

Whatever else they said was lost as they left, walking towards the sanctuary. It wasn’t until he saw Rose in front of him that Sorey started walking to keep up with her. He had no idea where they were going as they went through the thinning crowd of people and entered a side street. They emerged on the other side where it was quiet, a railed area looking over the placid water that surrounded Ladylake.

Rose went to lean on the railing, humming softly as she closed her eyes. “It’s good to see you again, Sorey. I was so angry at you after you pushed me away to slide below with Heldalf.” She looked at her friend with a soft, sad smile. “All of us felt that loss but no one more than Mikleo.”

“Yeah. I’ve gotten the impression that something happened to him while I was gone,” Sorey murmured. “Mikleo won’t tell me even if I ask him. Just last night, before you knocked on our door, he almost seemed offended that I suggested he should have gone back to places we were in. He’s never been so secretive around me.”

“I think it’s embarrassment more than anything. He spent a long time figuring himself out and how he’d go on without you at his side,” Rose said, turning to look at the water. “Mikleo’s strong but losing you and Zenrus wasn’t something he was prepared for. It took a good deal of work for him to pick himself up and focus on becoming stronger.”

A light smile touched Sorey’s face and he let out a light laugh. “That sounds like Mikleo, all right. We really did spend all of our time together for as long as I can remember. In Elysia, we were the only ones who were so young.” Sorey dug into his memories, each one of them containing the water seraph at his side. “Sometimes I think Gramps was the only one who understood what to do with us.”

Remaining silent, Rose finally took in a breath. “He loves you; I hope you know that.”

If he had an actual heart, Sorey would have felt it do a flip in his chest. “I know he does,” he said after a moment.

“I don’t mean just as a brother or family.”

It was pointless to deny that fact so he didn’t even try. “Why is it so hard for us to admit it to one another?” Sorey wondered aloud.

“Because you both worry so damn much about appearances. Like anyone would find it strange for two as close as you are to fall in love.” Rose’s blue eyes danced with amusement. “Mikleo has his pride and you have your heart. Mikleo feels weak for letting you dominate his life after being independent for so long. As for you…” She trailed off and soon shrugged a shoulder. “Hell if I know why you keep holding out.”

Sorey knew why though he knew he was about to feel foolish for admitting it to Rose. “My mind keeps holding onto the idea that I’m human, I think. For so long, I didn’t want to admit it to him because I’d grow old and die eventually.”

Letting out a sharp laugh, the Storyteller looked to Sorey with a wry grin. “So, now you’re both being idiots. Nothing’s stopping either of you except yourselves and your preconceptions.” Rose’s grin widened at Sorey’s reaction to her words. “I’ve learned some big words over the past few centuries. Finally, the things you and Mikleo would talk about makes some sense.”

That made Sorey chuckle and he put a hand on the railing. “You’re right that we’re both holding each other back,” he murmured. “Did you know he told me his True Name before I became a Shepherd?”

Rose’s eyes went wide and she let out a soft noise. “He gave you that kind of power when you were a kid?”

“He never told me the kind of power a True Name has. Mikleo handed me everything about him before I think he even knew what I could do with his name.” A thought occurred to him and Sorey started slightly. “I’ve never told him _my_ True Name.”

“That’s not strange, Sorey. Both of you have spent all this time feeling each other out after such a long time apart. Sure, you didn’t change but Mikleo has had all these years to become someone different.” Hesitating for a moment, Rose swiped her eyes in Sorey’s direction. “And don’t you dare speak your True Name to me. That’s a responsibility I don’t think I’d like.”

Sorey was taken aback at what Rose said and he shook his head. “Why? I know yours, even if it’s only because I gave it to you.”

Letting out a heavy breath, Rose fished in her jacket for her pipe. She took her time filling and lighting it, not even paying any mind to Sorey until she let out a smoke ring. “Eventually, I’ll take it. After all these years, I still see you as the Shepherd and I feel like a Squire all over again.”

“You were never just my Squire, Rose,” Sorey said, setting a hand on her shoulder.

Turning suddenly, Rose put her arms around Sorey and held him tightly. “Dammit, Sorey. I missed you so much.”

Laughing softly, the former Shepherd embraced his friend. They’d started out as enemies but then became close friends on their journey. He’d known that his absence would be felt but the intensity sometimes caught him off guard. Sorey knew he had fantastic and loyal friends which was why he tried hard not to take it for granted that he had guides for his new life.

Eventually, Rose pulled away and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. She took in a breath and let it out slowly before smiling brightly at Sorey. “I couldn’t do that in front of everyone. They thought I had it all together all the time when I was making things up as I went. It’s impossible to fill your shoes.”

“I don’t think anyone expected you to be me, Rose. They joined you because of who _you_ are,” Sorey insisted. “When I made the decision to merge with Maotelus, I knew I left everyone in good hands.”

Though she was definitely older than Sorey remembered her, Rose’s smile still shone through. It didn’t matter how many centuries passed or what title she held; Rose would always be Rose. To most, her True Name would seem lazy but he’d chosen it for a reason. Even back then he knew she’d be herself no matter what.

Both of them turned back to looking out at the water, a comfortable silence falling between them. “I’m glad you became the Storyteller, Rose. I don’t know if I’ll ever remember to call you ‘Mayvin’, though.”

“You’d better not. That’s who I am to everyone else.”

Sorey looked over before he let out a chuckle. “Rose is Rose. Got it.”

That seemed to placate her as she puffed idly on her pipe. By now, the sun had already slipped below the horizon and the stars were lighting up the night sky. Compared to all the time they’d spent together before, it felt nice to relax and enjoy the calm around them.

“You and Mikleo should spend some time together,” Rose announced suddenly.

“Where did this come from? Mikleo and I have been spending a lot of time together. We even rent that place for ourselves so we have somewhere to call our own,” Sorey said, confusion making his brow furrow.

Rolling her eyes, the Storyteller shifted to lean back against the railing. “I meant that you two should go somewhere without the interruption of everyone else. I get that you two have been travelling together since you got back but now you _know_ one another better.”

It came back to the fact that, while Sorey hadn’t had any opportunities to change beyond what he was, Mikleo had been living his life. There had been times early on that had felt like nothing had changed between them while there were other times where the water seraph seemed miles away. The latter situations had definitely gotten better over time but they were still there.

“We still might not admit how we really feel to each other,” Sorey murmured. “If I’m wrong about it, he’ll never feel comfortable around me again.”

“Then leave it up to him,” Rose said simply. “You know Mikleo always goes for what he wants eventually. He won’t hesitate like you are if he feels that he’s right. You know that even better than I do, unless he was never that headstrong with you.”

Matters of the heart had definitely never been Sorey’s strong point. It’d been easier when he was aiming to see the world and everything in the Celestial Record. Yet, he supposed it’d always been something on his mind as exploring wouldn’t be the same without Mikleo. He felt a bit of guilt go through him as he remembered how he’d told the water seraph he should have gone back to the ones they explored without him. Mikleo likely felt the same way he did about their adventures. None of it would be the same without them being together.

“I’ll ask him tonight. I’m not going to pressure him about it.”

Pushing up off the railing, Rose started walking back out of the small area. “I don’t think you’ll have to push too hard at all. Good talk, Sorey. And don’t worry about everyone else. I’ll tell them where you’re going.”

With that, Rose was gone, leaving Sorey to think to himself until he went back to the apartment. He was glad that Rose was right and soon Sorey and Mikleo were making plans to spend time away from Ladylake.


	7. Fulfilling A Promise

“Ahh, it feels good to be out of the noise of the capital!”

Sorey stretched with a soft noise as he and Mikleo awoke on the ridge that overlooked Ladylake. Away from the hustle and bustle of the Castletown, it was so much easier to hold a conversation. They’d already focused much more on their eventual tour of the world and Sorey was certain his focus was better while far outside of Ladylake’s boundaries.

The sun was already high in the sky, gleaming off the water below. Mikleo was still fussing with the bag they’d brought which was full of books. It’d felt strange packing for a trip without food or even water. The trip was definitely the first test of Sorey’s new reality and he felt that he was doing well. Sure, he’d found a few berries and snacked on them but he’d been getting used to the fact that food wasn’t necessary for him any longer.

Standing finally, Mikleo held onto a book and began to flip through it. “We should have planned this better so I wouldn’t have to be searching through all these books.”

“Hey, I’m the one who’s carrying them. Consider that compensation for dropping the idea on you on short notice,” Sorey said, laughing gently. “What _are_ you looking for, anyway?”

Mikleo sat down heavily beside his friend as he continued to skim the pages. “There were some mentions of towns in the northern areas but I can’t find anything other than passing references. If we knew where they were, we could stop at them and see how humans live in such inhospitable places.”

It was hard to not watch the water seraph as he focused on his task. While it was nothing new for him, Sorey hadn’t seen the familiar look of concentration since he’d returned. Sorey could be bold when it came to combat but being honest with his heart was a whole other matter. He had to do it right with Mikleo and have the right answer the first time. Anything less than that was a failure that Sorey wasn’t sure he could pick himself up from.

“Sorey?”

“Huh?” Sorey blinked owlishly as he realized Mikleo had noticed his staring. He straightened himself before grinning slightly. “Sorry, were you saying something?”

“I was wondering if you ever came across anything in the books we have. I swear, you’ve been less focused out here than you’ve ever been near Ladylake.” Mikleo shook his head as he returned to the book. “This trip was supposed to help you, not hinder you.”

Thoroughly chastised, Sorey eventually shook his head. Right, he needed to focus and stop drifting off. “I haven’t seen anything in any of the books you’ve brought. Nothing solid that would give us a lead, anyway.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I wonder if there would be more books about it closer to the northern areas. We can’t be the only ones who have ever wanted to go there.”

As if pleased by Sorey’s seriousness, Mikleo made a soft noise of assent. “That means we won’t know what we’re getting into until we’re close to going there. We’ll have to stop and do research so we don’t get lost.”

“That sounds almost practical and overly cautious for you, Mikleo,” Sorey teased lightly.

Not skipping a beat, the water seraph nudged Sorey with an elbow. “It’s for your benefit since you fall into so many traps.”

“Says the one who nearly fell into a hole and was rescued by yours truly.” Sorey had to grin at the familiar, grumpy look he got in return at the reminder. “Don’t worry so much. It will be like old times when we were exploring the shrine in Elysia.”

Sighing in resignation, Mikleo had to smile fondly at the memories. “You’ve got me there. We had no idea what we were doing and I’m surprised Gramps let us go through the place. Looking back at those days, we could have gotten hurt a lot more than we did.”

“Gramps knew what we were doing. He would have done everything to stop us if we got seriously hurt,” Sorey said. “The small bumps and scrapes we had would’ve happened if we were playing anywhere in Elysia. Kids do that kind of thing.”

Sorey realized he felt eyes on him and looked over to see Mikleo staring at him with a soft smile. Was that what he’d been doing to his friend earlier? If it were up to him, he would have leaned in and took a chance then and there. However, Sorey had already resolved to leave it up to Mikleo to show if he had the same feelings the younger seraph had in his heart.

He couldn’t stop himself from returning the smile. “Now you’re the one staring at me.”

There was an obvious flush on Mikleo’s cheeks as he was called out. He made a noise and reached up to cover his face with a hand. “I’m sorry. I promise I was listening.”

Silently glad that no one else was around to make snide comments about their awkwardness, Sorey shook his head. “I know you were. It looks like we both needed some air to clear our mind. We never did well when we were cooped up for too long.”

“Remember when we were told to clean up Gramps’ place after we went through all his books?’ Mikleo said, laughing lightly. “It took forever and all we wanted was to go outside and look at everything we’d read about.”

“Oh yeah, and Gramps sure didn’t like how we complained about it. We were pretty young but he made sure to be firm when he needed to be. Neither of us were as messy after that since we knew how long we’d take to clean it all up again.” Sorey folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against a tree. “Things sure did seem simpler back then.”

“You sound old already, Sorey. No wonder your hair’s going white.” Mikleo reached up to run a hand through his own hair. “Mine is like this because I’m older and wiser than you are.”

Grumbling in irritation, Sorey allowed a wind to kick up which blew directly at the water seraph. He chuckled as the breeze blew the other’s hair around his face and made the book skip several pages. “If you say so.”

Mikleo spluttered as he tried to pull his hair from his face. He’d let it down the past couple of days for reasons known only to him. Now, he reached into a pocket and pulled out his hair tie, gathering his locks and pulling them back. “I keep forgetting you can be as annoying as Zaveid now. Why couldn’t you be a single element seraph?”

“And miss out on all the fun?” Sorey grinned widely, thoroughly enjoying himself.

The amusement was cut short as he felt a heavy item dropped in his lap, making him grunt. Sorey looked down to see the book that Mikleo had been reading now in his possession. The message was loud and clear. He would be the one to find the information his friend was looking for.

“Do you remember when you gave me you True Name?” Sorey asked idly as he started skimming through the book. He looked over to see a still irritated Mikleo fussing with his hair before turning his attention back to his task. “Did you know what kind of power you were giving to me?”

Dropping his hands into his lap, Mikleo nodded once. “I did. Gramps told me never to tell anyone my True Name unless I trusted them completely. Telling you made sense because I knew you’d never use my name unless you had to,” he said, giving his hair another tug to tighten the tie. “Even back then I knew that you would never hurt me.”

How casually the water seraph described it made Sorey smile gently. He paused, putting a hand on a page. “Thank you, Mikleo. I’m sorry I haven’t returned the favour yet.” Taking in a soft breath, he closed his eyes. “Ruwletom Kiwuv. Maotelus gave me the name in return for becoming a seraph.”

“’Sorey the Merciful’.” Mikleo murmured, his voice quiet. He paused for a moment as he took in a breath. “ _Ruwletom Kiwuv._ ”

As soon as the name left the other’s mouth, Sorey felt a strange tingle go through him. There’d been no intent behind it, only a repetition to test out the pronunciation. It reminded him that he’d done the same the moment he’d learned Mikleo’s True Name. Back then, he’d thought nothing of the shudder that had gone through the water seraph, now he knew why it’d happened.

“Ah, I’m sorry!” Mikleo said, holding up his hands. “I – “

Putting a hand up to his chest, Sorey laughed softly. “You wanted to know what it felt like on your tongue. I did the same thing to you when you told me yours. I didn’t apologize then so let me apologize now.”

“It didn’t feel bad to me when you said it,” Mikleo admitted. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Sorey quickly shook his head, putting a hand at the side of his neck. “Not at all.” In fact, it’d felt _good_ when Mikleo said his name and Sorey wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was it wrong or weird to enjoy it? “Just…tingly.”

A laugh of relief fell from Mikleo’s throat and he nodded lightly. “You only ever said it once without the power of armatization but I still remember what it felt like. I did my best to not put too much force into how I said it.”

Right, force and intention of saying a True Name were key components to it. With that name, Mikleo could essentially control him if he wanted to. Yet, Sorey knew that wasn’t going to happen unless it was an emergency or a necessity. Using it to stop him from making a mistake and setting off a deadly trap, for example. The name was given in complete trust because both of them knew what it meant to have it.

“Sorey, do you remember that talk we had in Elysia before we went to Camlann?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I think I do. We were talking about how we still needed to see the fire-spewing mountains mentioned in the Celestial Record,” Sorey said, nodding once. “That’s what we’ve been planning for a while now.” He stopped then tipped his head to one side. “You were also going to tell me if you remembered what you had to say.”

Mikleo smiled ever so slightly, moving to pull a knee up and putting his arm around his leg. “I didn’t forget what I wanted to say. I just couldn’t say it.” Tilting his head forward to let his hair cover the side of his face, the water seraph let out a heavy sigh. “Not when you had a decision in mind that would take you away, possibly forever.”

Saying nothing, Sorey set the book in his lap aside. He wanted to let his friend know that he was listening to whatever he had to talk about. Sorey made a soft noise before he turned his attention fully towards Mikleo.

“I worked hard while you were gone to become strong. Not just with my seraphic artes but also to be strong without you. For the last few years, I convinced myself I was just fine.” Amethyst eyes turned to Sorey briefly before turning away again to stare at the small fire pit they had. “When you came back, I felt…stupid. I doubted you, even for a moment. Like I’d forgotten everything we did when we were kids.”

“Mikleo, I don’t blame you for that. It _did_ take me nearly four-hundred years to return,” Sorey said, laughing gently.

Before he could think about it, the water seraph had shifted so he was straddling Sorey. Mikleo’s hands pressed hard against Sorey’s shoulders, pushing him up against the tree’s trunk. “You _never_ would have given up on me.”

There was a ferocity to his friend’s words that shocked Sorey even more than the look on the water seraph’s face. Reaching up with one hand, he covered one of Mikleo’s and frowned gently. “No, I wouldn’t have. You did what you had to for yourself.”

“All those years ago, I wanted to tell you I loved you.” Mikleo shook his head slightly. “If I love you, why did I think you’d never come back?”

It was true that Sorey was definitely not a genius when it came to love. There’d only been one person in his life he could ever say that about and he was looking at him. That was why the answer to Mikleo’s question was obvious to him.

“You thought that to protect your heart in case I never did come back. What I did was risky and I was still human when I merged with Maotelus.” Sorey smiled sadly, moving his other hand to put it on Mikleo’s cheek. “You’re so much stronger than anyone knows, Mikleo. You’ve never forgotten me, you wanted to be prepared to go on without me.”

Sorey hadn’t expected to get such a confession out of the water seraph. Though his heart leapt at the fact his feelings were returned, he hadn’t even said it back yet. From the way Mikleo’s shoulders dropped, Sorey wondered if he thought the feeling wasn’t mutual. Apparently, he wasn’t as obvious to his friend as he thought he was. The thought made him let out a breathless laugh at his own foolishness. Rose was right, they were definitely idiots.

“When I was still human, I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to hurt you later. I was mortal. I’d grow old and die if I was lucky, or get sick and leave you alone suddenly if I wasn’t. So, I kept it to myself.” Sorey looked downwards before closing his eyes with a sigh. “That was why I didn’t want you to become Lailah’s Sub Lord, you know. I was worried you’d have to suffer worse if you were attached to me.”

It was something he’d never admitted to anyone, especially not the proud water seraph. No matter how much pride Mikleo had, he was still a gentle, caring person deep down. Loss cut deeper when love was involved, romantic or otherwise.

“Selfish idiot,” Mikleo muttered, curling a hand into a fist and thumping it on Sorey’s chest. “I would’ve rather followed you into death.”

_There_ was the Mikleo he knew. Sorey chuckled and moved his hand to make the water seraph look at him. “I love you too, Mikleo. We’ve both been idiots about it but there’s no other idiot I’d rather spend eternity with.”

Mikleo stared for a moment before scowling, reaching up to bat Sorey’s hand away. There wasn’t a moment’s pause before Mikleo leaned in, all but crushing his lips against Sorey’s.

For a first kiss, it was definitely not the sappy romantic type that he’d heard described by others. There was no metric for Sorey to measure it by but he sure did feel the passion behind it. Sorey hummed and tried to soften the contact by returning the kiss himself. It was over all too soon as Mikleo pulled away, the scowl gone from his face.

It seemed that Mikleo finally realized what he’d done and where he was, a flush touching his cheeks. “I, uh…”

“Don’t you dare apologize for that!” Sorey exclaimed, shaking his head. “If you didn’t do it, I would have.”

“You’re right, we _are_ idiots about this, aren’t we?” Mikleo sighed heavily, leaning forward to bury his head against Sorey’s shoulder. “I thought it’d be easier to tell you since so many of the problems we had don’t exist now.”

Chuckling gently, Sorey put his arms around the water seraph. “Nothing we do is ever easy, is it?” He tipped his head to rest it against Mikleo’s, not even thinking about how they’d never been in such a position before. “I’ve been wanting to tell you how I feel for weeks now. It really feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders.”

A soft, muffled laugh met his ear. “Even with me on one of them?”

“Hey, you’ve never been heavy to me, Mikleo. I’d never consider you a weight I don’t want to carry.”

Sitting up, Mikleo rubbed at an eye with the heel of his palm. “I was so worried you’d have no idea what I was trying to say or the kind of love I feel. I should’ve known that you’re not that naïve, even if Zaveid thinks you are.”

The mention of the wind seraph made Sorey flush as well, remembering their conversation. It was best to not even bring it up lest he made Mikleo think that was all he wanted. What Sorey really wanted was the moment they were sharing right now.

“I like to think that I’m not naïve, just very specific about where my heart lies,” Sorey said, grinning ever so slightly. “I had long enough to think about it. He tried really hard to get us to show interest in women.”

Mikleo rolled his eyes and made a face. “Don’t remind me. He kept trying while you were gone, too. No matter how many times I told him I wasn’t interested, he didn’t take a hint. I guess he thought I was just a ‘late bloomer’ or something.” A smile played at his lips and his gaze softened. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

This time, both of them leaned in for a kiss. Sorey was sure that he was going to drown in his happiness and he was all right with that.


	8. Seraphic Marriage

It took a few more days before Sorey and Mikleo decided to return to Ladylake. They’d spent a great deal of time simply being used to showing affection for one another in a way they’d never done before. It’d been an unspoken desire for them both to explore each other without the interference of anyone else, friend or not. They both knew they’d end up getting enough noses in their business when they showed up.

Still, Sorey was glad that Mikleo didn’t shy away from it in the least. The two walked through the streets with fingers interlaced and practically walking shoulder-to-shoulder. Sorey’s heart felt lighter than ever just seeing the contented smile on his lover’s face.

“It’s about damn time you showed up again. I thought you two just bailed on us and used needing ‘peace and quiet’ as some excuse.” Zaveid gave the two a look of irritation as they came closer to the area near the aqueducts. He paused, tilting his head slightly. “Something seems different about you.”

“It can’t possibly be that they’re more glued together than usual, could it?” Edna remarked drily, looking at their linked hands. “I can’t say I’m surprised but what took you so long to admit it?”

Sorey shrugged a shoulder and chuckled as he gave Mikleo’s hand a squeeze. “Admitting how you feel to someone else can be a big step. It’s not always easy.”

Zaveid laughed sharply, one finger coming up to push up his hat. “Admitting your feelings is easy, it’s what comes after that’s not so easy. How many ways has he made you bend over backwards, Sorey?” he asked, smirking lightly. “Or should I ask how many times you’ve bent him over backwards already.”

Mikleo sputtered and glared at the wind seraph in irritation. “Not everyone thinks like you do, Zaveid! What we do with each other isn’t any of your business.”

“They definitely didn’t do anything. If they had, Meebo wouldn’t still have such a sour look on his face,” Edna quipped. She quickly jabbed her parasol at Zaveid before he said anything. “That’s not an invitation.”

“Can…we not talk about this?” Sorey managed to get out, grimacing slightly.

“Zaveid! Down, boy. Leave the two new lovebirds alone.” Rose’s voice came from behind them and soon she and Lailah joined Zaveid and Edna. “You move a lot faster than they will. Let them explore things at their own pace.”

Lailah nodded slightly, giving both Mikleo and Sorey a bright smile. “I’m so happy for you both. I knew you two had a connection from the first time we met,” she said, turning her eyes to Sorey. “Even back then I understood your reasons for not wanting Mikleo as my Sub Lord.”

Glad to be off the topic of sex, Sorey laughed gently, putting a hand at the back of his head. “You even knew that Mikleo would do anything to be at my side.” He felt a nudge from Mikleo and he smiled. “I knew it, too. Nothing could ever keep us apart for long.”

There was something in Edna’s smile as she looked at her friends, opening her parasol and setting it on her shoulder. “Until Maotelus did. Neither of you should leave each other for that long again.” She looked pointedly at Sorey who understood her better than most. “Since you’re a seraph now, you need to think about the long life you have ahead of you.”

It was remarkably heart-felt advice from the earth seraph and Sorey nodded. “I’ve been having a lot of trouble with that but I know it’ll get better as time goes on. What I do know is that I want to truly see the world, not just this continent. There’s a lot I never got to experience and a human’s lifetime isn’t enough to take it all in.”

“Which is why we’ve been planning just that for a while now,” Mikleo said, seeming to relax as well. “Lailah, what’s that look for?”

“Would you both really leave us all behind for so long?” Lailah asked, worry in her gaze. “We only just reunited and have been having so many good times together. Do we bother you that much?”

Sorey shook his head quickly. “Hey, we’re not planning on going right away or anything! There’s still plenty of time and I’d really like to stick around for a while.” He looked to Mikleo who nodded in agreement, though Sorey knew they were almost always on the same page. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.”

“Oh, good, I thought that the wind seraph in you was feeling antsy.” Zaveid chuckled softly. “I’m not looking to put down roots anytime soon either, but sticking around for a while sounds good to me. I might’ve joined in a little late but you’re all good people.”

“Stop doing that, it’s creepy when you actually sound normal,” Edna grumbled.

Rose laughed softly, closing her eyes for a moment. “This really feels like old times again. Talk about shaving centuries off of a girl’s life.” Rose opened her eyes and looked curiously at the couple. “So, do we consider you guys hitched or something now?”

To his surprise, Sorey didn’t exactly reject the concept in his mind. Something told him that Mikleo was also contemplating the idea before they both shrugged. “I guess you could, if you wanted to. I already know that I’m not going to fall in love with anyone else like I have with Mikleo.”

Edna tipped her head to one side, her eyes darting between Sorey and Mikleo. “You already knew Meebo’s True Name but have you told him yours?” When Sorey nodded, she grinned. “Then I’d consider you married by seraph standards. Big ceremonies are something for humans but seraphs exchanging True Names is far better.”

“Far more boring, you mean,” Zaveid muttered. “No cake, no party, no drinks. We didn’t even get to see it happen like we did with Alisha and Sergei.”

Lailah made a soft noise and put a hand up to her mouth. “We couldn’t possibly have been part of that and you know it, Zaveid. Though we all know one another’s True Names, we never use them with the intent that Sorey and Mikleo now share.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Zaveid nodded slightly. “Of course not. We don’t even know Sorey’s True Name and I’d like to keep it that way for a while. I usually don’t mind sharing but it feels wrong somehow.”

“Seraphim who find themselves with a Shepherd who is reborn as a seraph themselves tend to not desire the same connection they once had. It’s a form of respect that’s unspoken between us.” Lailah smiled at Zaveid as if she were proud of him. “Of course, that’s not _always_ the case as Mikleo has proven to us.”

Mikleo made a noise of amusement as he lifted his head proudly. “I knew Sorey before any of you did so I’m different. Sorey even said as much when he spoke with you, Lailah.” It was obvious that the water seraph was glad for that fact. “It made sense to share our names with each other.”

Not expecting it in the least, Sorey flushed as he felt Mikleo lean in and kiss at his neck. He relaxed quickly, laughing gently and was silently glad that his lover was taking the initiative to show affection in public. It surely had something to do with Mikleo’s pride and no doubt he wanted to make his claim obvious, as if anyone else would dare to make such a move on Sorey.

“Gross.” Edna frowned in disapproval but there was a slight curve to her mouth that suggested anything but. “No one needs to see that.”

“You’d better get used to it, Edna,” Sorey said with a shrug. He turned to capture Mikleo’s lips with his own, chuckling in the back of his throat at his lover’s surprise. “We’ve both held back for a long time so we’ve got to make up for it somehow.”

Rose smiled brightly and tilted her head as she watched the two of them. “I think it’s adorable. You two make a great team and look good together. We should celebrate.”

“Now you’re talking!” Zaveid crowed. “Think the inn would complain at such a large group coming through to take up the place for a while? It might not be the same as that lavish wedding ceremony but I’ll try to enjoy myself.”

“Keep your hands to yourself and we’ll be fine,” Rose said, a smirk on her face.

It was Lailah who looked worried as she turned to Rose. “We should definitely celebrate as a seraphic union is quite rare but we won’t be interrupting any of your plans, will we?” she asked, turning to Sorey and Mikleo. “I understand you both just returned but don’t let us keep you.”

“We’re the ones who went looking for you so we’re fine. It’s not every day you get to find an excuse to spend all day together without something getting in the way,” Mikleo said.

Edna frowned at Mikleo, getting in close and looking up at him. “You’re giddy. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Edna, my dear, they basically just got married. They haven’t had a chance to enjoy a night alone in the comfiest bed in Ladylake yet. Do you think that Sorey would choose the ground of all things for their first time?” Zaveid laughed, turning his grin to the couple. “Both of them are just running high on feeling free like they were when they were kids. Am I wrong?”

Looking at one another, Mikleo and Sorey eventually nodded in unison. They definitely hadn’t done anything sexual but they’d spent a lot of time getting used to being close to one another. Unable to speak for Mikleo, Sorey was still wanting that closeness and the happiness he’d felt. It was fairly easy to assume that the water seraph felt the same as he’d still not let go of Sorey’s hand.

Coming up behind Zaveid, Rose slapped his back before she started walking to lead the way to the inn. “Sometimes you can still surprise me. I need to find your switch to flip so you’re not always a damn clown,” she said.

“Oh, you can flick all my switches anytime, Rose.”

The Storyteller let out a sharp laugh, looking over her shoulder. “Always the charmer, aren’t you? Talk about flattery for an old woman.”

As everyone began following Rose and Zaveid, Sorey and Mikleo stood hand-in-hand watching them for a moment. Lifting up their connected hands, Sorey kissed the back of his lover’s hand. “You’re okay with them saying we’re married?”

Shrugging gently and leaning in for a proper kiss, Mikleo started following after their posse. “Whatever makes people understand you’re mine and no one else’s, I’ll take it.”

“I never knew you were so possessive.”

“That’s because you didn’t pay attention when we met Alisha. I wasn’t against her coming to Elysia just because she was another human.” Smiling sadly, he gave an apologetic look to Sorey. “I worried that you’d fall in love with her and leave me.”

Sorey looked at the water seraph incredulously before he chuckled. “I’ll be honest, the thought never even crossed my mind. I was excited to hear what lay beyond Elysia, what it was like in the wide world outside of Gramps’ protection. Alisha was kind and had a strong heart but I never once felt a connection with her, not like I’ve always had with you.” A thought crossed his mind and he arched his brow at Mikleo. “You weren’t so defensive with Rose.”

A wide grin touched Mikleo’s face and he shook his head. “She is definitely not your type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? How do you know my type?” Sorey grumbled, nudging Mikleo with his elbow. He laughed as he got a bigger nudge back and it quickly devolved into their old shoving matches. “You knew, even back then.”

The words made Mikleo stop and he shrugged a shoulder. “No, I didn’t. If I’d been so sure, I would have definitely told you how I felt sooner. Something about Rose made her feel like a sister rather than someone either of us would fall in love with.”

“You’re not wrong. Rose will always be a good friend but I didn’t fall in love with her like that, either.” Sorey took in a breath, letting it out in a rush. “After all the worrying Gramps did about how I grew up, it didn’t matter in the end. My heart chose a long time before I left Elysia.”

What he’d said caught up to him and Sorey grimaced at the questioning look from his lover. “Just human things, don’t worry about it.”

Humming softly, Mikleo nodded once. “Fine, we can talk about your ‘human things’ some other time. I think we should be open about it, don’t you?”

That was definitely a talk that Sorey was dreading. Either Mikleo would understand or he’d have to describe everything in detail. Sorey knew that his lover wouldn’t accept anything less than full disclosure. From what Zaveid had said, most seraphs didn’t care to learn much about humans and their ways. Even though they’d grown up together, such things were Sorey’s little secrets.

“Uh, yeah,” he murmured finally, feeling the squeeze to his hand. “It doesn’t really matter now since I’m not a human.”

“Tell me in your own time, Sorey. I know you still have problems remembering you’re a seraph now, you’ve said so yourself. Whatever those ‘human things’ are, let me help you figure them out,” Mikleo said.

Sorey’s mind went back to the day in Elysia when Mikleo had commented that the larger world would have more problems. “Yeah. Like I said about problems: we can handle them.”

The reminder made Mikleo laugh. “I remember I told you I had no idea how to respond to that. After a few centuries of thinking it over, all I can say is that you’re right. We’ve always handled our problems as best as we could.”

“Are you slowpokes going to come with us or not?” Edna called to them, a grumpy look on her face. “You had enough time to talk to each other, it’s our turn.”

“And here I thought Zaveid would be the only one enthusiastic for a party,” Mikleo said with a roll of his eyes.

“She’s right, though. We agreed to it and we can always talk later. Let’s focus on our friends right now.” Sorey began to lead them closer to the group, glancing over his shoulder at his lover. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust me, I really wanted them to address those "human things" in this fic but, each time I tried, it was stilted and odd. I've already decided what I'll do as I feel like this was better from Sorey's perspective. Mikleo's perspective would be best for anything beyond this, so expect a second fic to this one.
> 
> If you want to keep up with stuff I'm doing, just check my profile for a link to my creative Twitter! Thanks for getting this far and I hope you enjoyed! You're awesome and have an awesome day. ❤


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